Twenty- two Texas municipalities hit with ransomware attacks in 2019. In 2018, over 50% of ransomware attacks targeted small businesses. Cybersecurity remains a top priority for protecting your business.
Here’s what to know about ransomware. Employees download it via an email attachment like other viruses. The perpetrators often spoof email addresses from friends or other employees to fool them into downloading, and the virus may lie dormant for several days.
Protect your business and data by training employees to think before they download files. Would their co-worker send a file labeled like this? Check the email address from Amazon or UPS, and if it’s got a funky look or letters, it’s likely fraudulent.
Your business social media and employee social media accounts accessed via your network offer cybercriminals a way into your system. The best defense against this threat is identifying the social media sites in use and incorporating 2FA (two-factor authentication).
Backing up your critical data every day remains one of the best ways to avoid ransomware issues. If your data is backed up, there’s no reason to pay to get it back. Use security software to catch ransomware and other malware.
Today’s anti-virus software isn’t foolproof, but the best solutions identify a problem early and prevent as many attacks as possible. A few of the highest-rated are McAfee Endpoint Security, Bitdefender Gravity Zone BusinessSecurity, and Symantec Endpoint Protection. All offer excellent protection at a reasonable price for a small business with several devices to protect.
Author: Kris Keppeler, a writer who finds technology fascinating and loves humor. She writes for Crossing Genres on Medium.com and Does This Happen to You? on Channillo. Award-winning podcast producer who enjoys telling stories. Follow her @KrisKKAria on Twitter or on LinkedIn.
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